Question: If an Esper’s role is an assassin, what assassin skills are essential?
Answer: Disguise!
Jiang Jian Yue touched her black hair and looked at her reflection in the shop window—a somewhat cute round face, black pupils, round-rimmed glasses on her nose bridge, and a faint layer of freckles around her nose.
She felt like the kind of heroine appearing in aesthetic manga, often wearing loose clothes, with a suppressed feminine aura that was practically fragrant.
Well, Jiang Jian Yue admitted she was a bit suppressed.
She rubbed her chest, which was currently quite large, and felt a little uncomfortable.
‘Ah… being flat-chested is still more comfortable…’
“Mommy, there’s a pervert.”
A young girl pulled a little boy and ran away quickly.
“….”
After spending so long in a ruined city like Seoul, she had forgotten that human society had people living in settlements.
“Head of the family, the house is rented for you. Here’s the key, here’s your new identity, and… uh… 300 new yen.”
One of the nails left in Japan—Xiaoquan Junjie, one of the original bodyguards at the Jiang Jian Apartment—hurried to Jiang Jian Yue’s side, reported in a low voice, and handed over a few bills.
“Three hundred… what’s the purchasing power?” Jiang Jian Yue wasn’t sure about the value of the new yen.
“Enough for a few days of boxed lunches…”
Xiaoquan Junjie said a little awkwardly: “Tokyo rent is pretty expensive. After paying… this is all I have left. I’m keeping four yen to take the subway back to Qiyu…”
Jiang Jian Yue’s eyes twitched slightly. She hadn’t expected the life of a Japan special envoy to be so tight.
She lowered her voice and felt a hint of murderous intent as she asked: “Is someone embezzling?”
Although DRG had fallen, Morita Aoya and the others already had their own industries in Madagascar.
Thanks to the Pacific Treaty’s Western Hemisphere Humanitarian Aid Plan, that small island nation of Madagascar had also become wealthy.
Morita Aoya had led his people to take a slice, mainly selling vanilla to the Pacific Treaty—though it didn’t sound as impressive as DRG, at least they could afford mission funds.
“No, no, no.”
Xiaoquan Junjie quickly shook his head: “It’s because the Pacific Treaty has recently tightened financial controls, saying economic crimes are rampant. The salaries from last month and the month before haven’t arrived yet…”
Damn it!
Why is Old China so troublesome!
After saying goodbye to Xiaoquan Junjie, who had only four yen left and was about to go hungry in the Qiyu warehouse, Jiang Jian Yue could only sigh at the loyalty of the old comrade.
With her subordinates investigating the information on the Shock Core, Jiang Jian Yue had a long time to entertain herself.
“Tokyo! Your Jiang Jian Yue is back~”
…
At the Tokyo Metropolitan General Hospital, the smell of disinfectant was slightly diluted by the rich aroma of coffee.
Yuki Asahi leaned against the sofa, wearing a clean white shirt, his long hair casually tied back, almost no trace of having just experienced a kidnapping and fierce battle.
He calmly sipped hot tea, opposite him sat Imai Yayoi and Onishi Kaori, both exhausted to the point of collapse.
“…They call themselves the ‘Oath Society,’ a revenge organization formed by victims of Jiang Jian Yue during the Euro-African War.”
Yuki Asahi’s voice had no waves, as if he were stating something unrelated to himself.
“The armed forces entrenched on the island are not weak. Those thirty-plus people who appeared uniformly in the Shinjuku underground were mostly Emergent Bodies. They had good coordination and complementary abilities.”
“Gravity, Space Solidification, mental interference… combined, they are quite troublesome. The remnants of the European Union are deeper than we thought.”
Imai Yayoi listened with her heart pounding: “More than thirty Emergent Bodies? And an army? No wonder they dared to detain you so arrogantly… that giant mech…”
“Ymir.”
Yuki Asahi set down his teacup; the bottom made a crisp clink against the saucer.
“The European Union’s ‘Decisive Weapon.’ Its defense field can neutralize most superpower attacks, and its firepower is enough to destroy a city.”
He paused, as if recalling that shocking scene: “It was indeed powerful. Hard to deal with using conventional means.”
Onishi Kaori’s emerald eyes stared intently at Yuki Asahi, a hint of excitement in her tone: “And then it was blown apart by an iron cannonball?”
“…From a thousand kilometers away?”
Apparently, she had already received part of the information from Imai Yayoi, including that unbelievable long-range strike.
“Mm.”
Yuki Asahi only responded with one character.
“The attack method was pure kinetic energy. Speed… extremely fast. Ymir’s shield didn’t work.”
“And those people from the Diplomatic Agency…”
Yuki Asahi’s voice dropped a few notes, carrying a complicated affirmation: “Only she could have done it.”
Who he was referring to was obvious.
The reception room fell into a brief silence.
Imai Yayoi massaged her temples—she hadn’t slept for days. Onishi Kaori crossed her arms, frowning deeply.
“Yayoi…” Yuki Asahi stood up, breaking the silence. “I’m going home. You should rest too. The People’s Coalition Party still needs you to hold it together.”
“Ah… okay. Yuki-kun, you just got back—get some rest too.” Imai Yayoi quickly nodded. She indeed needed some time alone to sort out her thoughts.
Yuki Asahi gave a slight nod, took his jacket draped over the chair back, turned, and walked toward the door.
His steps were still steady, but the distance and urgency to leave were still obvious.
Just as he was about to step out of the reception room, hurried footsteps sounded behind him.
“Wait! Yuki-kun!”
Onishi Kaori caught up and stopped him at the corner of the quiet corridor.
The exaggerated smile on her face was gone, replaced by a rare seriousness and inquiry.
“What is it?” Yuki Asahi stopped and looked at her calmly.
Onishi Kaori took a deep breath, stepped closer, lowered her voice, and looked directly into Yuki Asahi’s eyes: “Yuki-kun… actually, you had ways to escape earlier, didn’t you?”
Yuki Asahi’s eyes showed no fluctuation: “They had a device that blocks Emotion Perception, a ‘Mental Barrier.’ My Chantui ability was indeed restricted at the time.”
“I know that!”
Onishi Kaori’s voice carried a hint of urgency and confusion.
“But this is you! Yuki Asahi! Even if Emotion Perception was temporarily disabled, your combat instincts, your physical abilities… I don’t believe that crappy chair and collar could have kept you trapped the whole time!”
Yuki Asahi was silent for a moment. The light from the corridor ceiling cast a small shadow on his sharp side face.
He slightly turned his head, his gaze again falling on the deep night outside the window.
Yes, those Oath Society people were strong, and their coordination far exceeded that of the sewer rats.
But if Yuki Asahi wanted to escape, he definitely had ways to get out—unless those thirty superpowered individuals watched him every moment.
The reason for not escaping…
Naturally, it was Jiang Jian Yue.
Although he had said “She’s dead,” said “I’ll finish it myself,” said “No cooperation,” “No recognition”…
But when that name was brought up by the haters, when that label of his only weakness was pinned on him, a kind of expectation he hadn’t even anticipated quietly revived.
He wanted to know if she would come.
This expectation was so secretive, carrying even a hint of self-destructive cruelty.
He thought to see whether, in such a perilous trap, she would really come for him as the rumors said…
But he hadn’t expected Jiang Jian Yue to not show up, and Ymir to be destroyed.
He also hadn’t expected the Oath Society’s actions to be so crazy, their slaughter of the Diplomatic Agency so decisive.
“I’m not that strong, Kaori.”
Yuki Asahi withdrew his gaze, his tone flat, as if stating an objective fact.
“Their preparations were thorough, and their coordination far exceeded expectations. Breaking free requires timing and cost. I was suppressed.”
Onishi Kaori stared at him, clearly unsatisfied with this perfunctory answer.
From the depths of his seemingly calm golden eyes, she could catch a hint of indescribable complex emotion.
It definitely wasn’t simple weakness.
She bit her lower lip and asked the question that had been circling in her mind, making her restless:
“Then… what if she comes back? Yuki-kun…”
Her voice involuntarily dropped even quieter, trembling: “If Senior Jiang… really comes back, what… are you going to do?”
Onishi Kaori’s heart was in her throat.
Although she didn’t think Jiang Jian Yue was a great demon who killed without blinking—saving the Diplomatic Agency could testify to that—
She feared Jiang Jian Yue’s return.
Onishi Kaori loved excitement, loved protecting this little group. But Jiang Jian Yue coming back meant a bigger storm approaching.
Not to mention… that unresolved relationship would finally come to an end.
If Jiang Jian Yue returned, no matter how hard Yuki Asahi talked tough, he definitely wouldn’t be able to kill her.
—Onishi Kaori had this premonition.
Yuki Asahi’s body stiffened for a moment.
He looked out the window again. Tokyo’s lights flickered in his eyes, like the turbulent thoughts in his heart.
Silence spread between them; the air seemed to freeze.
After a long time, so long that Onishi Kaori thought he wouldn’t answer, he finally spoke slowly:
“She…”
He only said one word, then stopped.
In the end, he gave no answer, nor did he look back at Onishi Kaori.
He simply stepped forward, walking straight ahead, his figure quickly disappearing into the shadows at the end of the corridor.
Onishi Kaori stood there, staring at the empty corridor, dazed for a long time.
“What the… this guy, always so insincere…”
Finally, as if she had figured it out on her own, Onishi Kaori’s eyes reddened as she forced a smile.
…
“Useless! Useless!”
Deep inside some dojo, the pitch-black shadow writhed like a demon consuming everything.
“That Feng He Shi waste! I told him ten thousand times not to act on his own… and yet…”
The kneeling samurai lowered his head, silent.
Beside him, a young man with dark circles under his eyes sat cross-legged on the ground, an expressionless face.
“Leader, theoretically, without the Dark Crows’ interference, Feng He Shi’s operation was a success.”
The young man began analyzing: “But after one assassination attempt, there won’t be a window of opportunity for a long time.”
The shadow spreading throughout the room calmed down slightly, apparently agreeing with this view.
“Mm. What you said makes sense.” The shadow deliberated for a moment, then continued: “Now that Human Spider and Feng He Shi are both dead, we need to lie low for a while.”
“The original candidates for Ghost King and the Yamato Society were both eliminated. Liu Ming, continue to scout for potential replacement members. For the rest of the time, maintain silence…”
“Wait for ‘that moment.’”
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